Vacuum lights

[soapy]

I started adding night lights to some of my vacuums that only turn at night when a vacuum is paid for. I wired a LED light into the vac motor power supply so that it turns on when the motor is running. It only draws 23 watts but puts out 1400 lumens of light. The power draw is minimal so no need to worry about excessive draw on the power supply. This first one is mounted on the dome but others may get mounted on a light pole. I used a heavy duty extension cord that I cut in half. It is wired so that if i need to take the dome off all I do is unplug the extension cord connection. Total cost was under $75. I always wondered why vacuum MFG. never offered something like this built into the vacuums. View attachment 509

 

[2Biz]

Great idea! Putting the light on the dome is the most optimum place to put it. Although, I hope it doesn't suffer a short life due to vandalism. Maybe putting the fixtures on the pole would be prevent vandalism, they just wouldn't be as effective there. I'm also wondering about bulb life with so many short cycles? Let us know in a year how they are doing....Its a shame you can't put a photo cell on the fixtures since they are not powered all the time. If you could, at least that would keep them from coming on in the daytime.

 

[MEP001]

Great idea! Putting the light on the dome is the most optimum place to put it. Although, I hope it doesn't suffer a short life due to vandalism. Maybe putting the fixtures on the pole would be prevent vandalism, they just wouldn't be as effective there. I'm also wondering about bulb life with so many short cycles? Let us know in a year how they are doing....Its a shame you can't put a photo cell on the fixtures since they are not powered all the time. If you could, at least that would keep them from coming on in the daytime.

You could use a photocell, but you'd probably have to power the photocell direct and use a relay for the light. Most of the small photocells need constant power, otherwise the circuit is closed for the first minute after power is applied. Of course there are some photocells that are nothing more than a cell and a bimetal switch with no temp regulator that would do the job, but they're usually bulky.

 

[soapy]

I do have a photo cell wired into the circuit. The led light is rated for 3 hours per day for 32 years of life. I went with a sealed fixture vs. using a fixture with a screw in bulb for vandalism reasons.I debated about even using a photo cell since the LED draws so little power and really a vacuum probably does not average more than an hour or 2 per day of operation.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

Good idea. I get very little business after dark, do you really get enough vac use in the dark to make it worthwhile?

 

[soapy]

I do not get a lot of vac use at night so I wondered why keep the lot so bright with big flood lights. I installed smaller LED flood lights but was not real happy with light. A couple of vacs at each location with these lights should handle any night demand and make it nice for the customers. I hope they migrate to the vacs with lights at night. Some of my vac islands do not have light poles so this will be a nice addition I think.

 

[mjwalsh]

I started adding night lights to some of my vacuums that only turn at night when a vacuum is paid for. I wired a LED light into the vac motor power supply so that it turns on when the motor is running. It only draws 23 watts but puts out 1400 lumens of light. The power draw is minimal so no need to worry about excessive draw on the power supply. This first one is mounted on the dome but others may get mounted on a light pole. I used a heavy duty extension cord that I cut in half. It is wired so that if i need to take the dome off all I do is unplug the extension cord connection. Total cost was under $75. I always wondered why vacuum MFG. never offered something like this built into the vacuums. View attachment 509

Soapy,

I am curious to know if it really helps the customer to see the actual vacuuming compared to their interior car lights that come on when their car door is open? On some of our vacs the customers straddle their vehicles 4 different ways so with the light you show being directional it seems to not be as practical in our 4 way situation.

Mike Walsh King Koin USA

 

[soapy]

View attachment 510 I came down and checked out the effectivness last night of the vac light. I was very pleased with how much light it puts inside the car. The pattern is perfect for the area of the car. This light along with my recently added light vac claw nozzle made it very nice to vacuum my car. Every location had someone vacuuming last night so I guess I might get more night business than I thought. Here is a picture inside of my black car with the new light and no flash on the picture.

 

[DiamondWash]

I love the idea but the only issue I see is that somebody that wants to break into the vac now has the concealment of darkness on their side not that canopy lights have stopped them.

 

[mjwalsh]

I love the idea but the only issue I see is that somebody that wants to break into the vac now has the concealment of darkness on their side not that canopy lights have stopped them.

Diamond,

Maybe a timed delay off motion detector wired in parallel with the light sensor-vacuum on state would be the winning combination?

Mike Walsh King Koin North Dakota.

 

[Mufwapo]

View attachment 510 I came down and checked out the effectivness last night of the vac light. I was very pleased with how much light it puts inside the car. The pattern is perfect for the area of the car. This light along with my recently added light vac claw nozzle made it very nice to vacuum my car. Every location had someone vacuuming last night so I guess I might get more night business than I thought. Here is a picture inside of my black car with the new light and no flash on the picture.

Where did you get the light vac claw nozzle?

 

[Randy]

Soapy, that’s a pretty interesting concept. I think I’ll have to take look at that. I don’t do much business at night. The lights over the vac island are on mostly for security. I use a 65 watt Fluorescent light over my vac islands

Mufwapo – this is where you can get the lighted vac claw http://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-39093-vaclitz-led-lighted-vac-nozzle-black.aspx

 

[soapy]

I have not had a vacuum broken into in over a decade. I went to 15 watt LED pole lights 4 years ago at this location and have not had a vandalism problem. Here is another picture of a install on a JE adams vac at another location.